The ultimate full carbon fiber townie
This was for sale. Now it's not. I thought you may want to read about it anyway.This full carbon Argon 18 Krypton has been turned into the ultimate townie. Just a year ago it was a bad to the bone race machine. As a matter of fact this exact frame won the crit at the Tour of the Gila in 2008. It was in the cat. 3 field but that is still pretty badass. It was a owned by a buddy of mine who was just going to leave it in his garage, naked of components. I adopted the beauty and put a good bit of work into it, starting with the naked but very sexy frameset.
Yes, this is a full carbon frame and fork which makes it the most bad to the bone townie… in town. I began by dropping in a pair of Velomax Circuit wheels that were also slightly used on the road racing scene. These wheels sell for $300 alone (they are now renamed as Easton, if you’re a searching or them). Wrapped around the wheels are two different tires for two different purposes. In the front is a Continental Grand Prix 4000 clincher tire. Conti tires are known for durability so having this as the first line of defense against you and the unforgiving payment is a must. On the back is a Michelin Pro Race 2, known for speed. It is also known for the tubby Michelin Man that would ride a bike almost as cool as this one.
The wheels are attached with Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 skewers. Yes, that is true. These skewers alone retail for $129.00 alone! Feel free to Google that up!
I then inserted a full carbon Truvativ Team seatpost, with a Fizik Arione Wingflex Team saddle. The saddle and post combo alone have a $270 value. But to be honest the saddle has a crack across the bottom, but that only adds a slight suspension feeling. Think of it as a Buick turned into a Cadillac. I keep the setup in place with a Salsa Lip Lock seat collar. So pro.
Up front is the full carbon Argon 18 fork mated to a Cane Creek IS2 integrated headset. Not to be one to miss a detail, I have even outfitted this machine with carbon fiber headset spacers.
The stem is a totally modded out and custom with a On-One 4-bolt frontal faceplate. For aesthetic sex appeal I dropped a small hole through the center of the stem for the routing of the front brake cable. No, it does not interfere with the structural integrity, nor does it have a practical purpose. It just looks sick and that’s all that matters. Right?
The front brake uses an Avid Speed Dial 7 lever and Shimano 105 brake caliper. This just slows you down so I don’t recommend using it if you’re a hard-man.
I have a pair of upside down mustache bars mounted to the front of the stem. They really set off the bike and scream it’s purpose – cruising the strip and looking like the man. You can stand up and hammer down to beat the next stop light, or beat the riced out ’97 Honda Civic with a spoiler sitting next to you. The bars are wrapped with Arundel Gecko Tape. Again, Google that up if you don’t know about it. It’s some fancy pants handlebar tape.
Let’s talk drivetrain- Shimano Compact cranks in 170mm length keep this guy turning. It has a 34 tooth single chainring. I opted for a shorter length crank so there was never a hesitation to stop pedaling while railing a turn and trying not to skid out and bust your butt on the painted cross-walk markings in front of you. They use an external Shimano bottom bracket, pretty much what all those hunks rode in the Tour de France this year. This bike could live in the streets or Portland or slopes of the Pyrenees.
The rear wheel is 9/10 speed compatible but I have spacers setup to run a single cog. No, it is not a fixed gear. Again, no it is not fixed gear. This means you can stop pedaling and use the single mounted front brake to stop instead of blowing out your knee’s acting like a NYC messenger. I used an STS singulator which works flawlessly and can accept any size rear cog. The bike has a 15 tooth cog on the wheel. With a 34/15 setup I find this to be the perfect gear for cruising town. It will keep you at a good clip when on flat streets but will allow you to crank up the hills. Of course you can tear apart any cassette and change the gearing to your sweetest little desires. If you’re a manier man than me just drop a smaller cog on the back or a larger ring on the front.
There was a small scuff on the non-drive side rear chainstay. The bike was like this when I received it from my old racing buddy. I put some JB-Weld over the blimmish and I’ve been riding it for 8 months like this. Trust me, it will not break at this point, its not even close. I bet the baseboard of your bed has bigger cracks then this thing would ever turn into. It is shown in the pictures, it has black sharpie over the JB-Weld to hide the band-aid.
There is a SRAM PC-991 chain with master quick link for cleaning in after you ride through street grime of the knarliest degree.
Sizing up:
The seattube from center-top is 56.5cm
The seattube from center-center is 52cm
The top tube center-center is 55cm
